


introduction to the intricacies of platonic affection

by nikola_tesla_slowburn



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: (minor dw), Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Holding Hands, Hurt/Comfort, Internalized Homophobia, Kinda, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, idk how to tag this sdkjf, troy is just having trouble coming to terms w being gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:42:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26680849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nikola_tesla_slowburn/pseuds/nikola_tesla_slowburn
Summary: This didn’t make him gay, right? No of course not, he was sure tons of friends did this. That’s what he and Abed were, friends, there was nothing romantic or gay about resting your head on your friend’s shoulder. Anyways, it would also only be gay if Troy enjoyed it.Which he didn’t.
Relationships: Troy Barnes & Abed Nadir, Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Comments: 16
Kudos: 188





	introduction to the intricacies of platonic affection

Troy and Abed were making their way through the halls of Greendale community college to the library for another study group session. Over the past few months, they had built a sort of schedule together. Every morning, Troy would wait at the flagpole for Abed. And every morning, Abed would run up to greet Troy, and the two would walk to meet the study group together. Abed would normally begin telling Troy about his latest film project, or last night’s episode of Inspector Spacetime, and Troy was perfectly content walking alongside and listening to what he had to say. 

In the middle this morning’s discussion topic (Abed was beginning to describe new subtext he had discovered while re-watching ‘Kickpuncher 2: Code-Name Punch Kicker’ the previous night.) Abed suddenly paused his lecture and looked down at the space between him and Troy, then back at Troy, then back at the space again, he cocked his head curiously. 

“You’re holding my hand.” He remarked. 

Troy’s face went red hot, “Wha- no I’m not! why would I- I would nev- I’m not even-“ he attempted to stumble through an explanation before glancing down and confirming that he had in fact unconsciously laced his and Abed’s fingers together. 

“Ah.” Troy said simply. 

The two stood silent for a moment, still hand in hand. 

“Maybe-“ Troy paused, thinking about what he was about to say. “maybe we could just keep holding hands.” he said softly. “There’s nothing wrong with two friends holding hands, right?” 

Abed raised his eyebrows and thought for a moment. 

“Not that I can think of.” He replied. 

“Yeah.” Troy murmured, seeming to be confirming to himself that this was ok. “We better get going, I don’t want to be late again.” He added quickly, trying to make things as normal as possible. 

A small smile flicked across Abed’s face. 

“Cool. Cool cool cool.” 

Troy could’ve sworn he felt the taller boy squeeze his hand before they continued on their way. 

As Abed quickly fell back into his lecture on the secret genius of the second Kickpuncher movie, Troy was trying his hardest to focus, but all he could concentrate in that moment was how well his hand fit in Abed’s. And how any time Abed seemed particularly passionate about a point he was making, he would swing their hands in a small, excited motion, and finally just how nice this all felt. 

Troy didn’t know why this small act of this definitely platonic intimacy was affecting him this much, but he was sure it was no big deal, he’d figure it out eventually. 

It was a normal bad movie night. Chang had bailed, claiming he had a date, and Shirley had opted to say home, which left Troy and Abed alone. 

The two were sitting on Abed’s couch, fully absorbed in the movie Abed had chosen, simply titled ‘Troll’. Neither had expected something with that goofy of a title to be scary but they were both quickly proven wrong. 

As Troy cringed at another horrific death scene, he felt a sudden weight on his shoulder. He stiffened a bit at the sudden touch, and glanced over at Abed, who seemed to be completely comfortable with his head on Troy’s shoulder. 

Dozens of panicked thoughts ran through Troy’s head. 

This didn’t make him gay, right? No of course not, he was sure tons of friends did this. That’s what he and Abed were, friends, there was nothing romantic or gay about resting your head on your friend’s shoulder. Anyways, it would also only be gay if Troy enjoyed it. 

Which he didn’t. 

Troy enjoyed absolutely nothing about the comforting weight of Abed, or the slow steady rhythm of his breathing, or the fact that Abed’s hair was really soft and smelled good. 

Nope, nothing about this was appealing to Troy. 

Well, with that out of the way, Troy began to relax his shoulders and leaned his head to rest on top of Abed’s. 

This wasn’t all that bad when Troy really thought about it, it was kind of nice to be curled up on the couch with Abed. Abed seemed to be enjoying himself too, it wouldn’t hurt to try and make his friend happier right? That was another good reason to justify this, Troy thought to himself. 

Troy was suddenly awoken by a painful shot of adrenaline running through his body. He sat up and took a few shaky breaths, he had had that nightmare again. He cringed as memories of it came flooding back and quickly tried distracting himself by running his shaky hands over his smooth blanket and taking deep breaths. After about 5 minutes he felt calm again but was still nervous about going to sleep. 

He glanced down at the bunk beneath him, maybe Abed was still awake. 

He peeked down and saw Abed, surprisingly still awake, fully engrossed in something on his tablet. Troy was in the middle of debating whether it would be worth it to interrupt him when Abed glanced up from his screen and shot Troy a curious look. 

“What’s wrong?” 

Troy shifted, feeling a little embarrassed. “I, uh, I had the nightmare again.” 

“The one where you’re a donut? Or the one where LeVar Burton quits acting and dies in a boat crash?” 

Troy grimaced at the memory “The donut one.” 

Abed nodded understandingly and his expression softened, he paused to think about something before opening his mouth to speak again. 

“Do you want to come down and lay with me?” 

Troy blinked. 

“I- uh,” he stammered, “is that ok?” 

Abed nodded and scooted over to make room for Troy. 

Troy apprehensively made his way down and awkwardly shuffled into bed next to Abed. He could feel the heat radiating from Abed’s body and hated how much he wished he could wrap his arms around the taller boy and bask in his warmth. Troy grumbled softly and scooted down further under Abed’s weighted blanket. 

Abed set his tablet down and readjusted so he was laying on his back with his and Troy’s arms pressed together. The two sat in an unfamiliar silence, wondering what would happen next. 

“Are you ok?” Abed asked softly. 

Troy shifted and looked over at him and thought about how much just being Abed calmed him down. Just the sound of his voice was enough to send a wave of calm washing over his body. 

“Yeah I’m alright, nightmares just suck.” 

Abed let out a small hum of agreement and the two fell into silence once again. 

Something was different. He didn’t know what, but something had changed overnight. 

Troy slowly blinked awake and realized what had changed, he had his face pressed into Abed’s chest, and the taller boy had his arms wrapped around Troy’s body, hugging him closely, their legs tangled together. 

Troy sat in silence for a minute, trying to figure out what this meant. 

Troy was almost 95% sure he wasn’t gay, but laying here, feeling the steady rise and fall of Abed’s breathing, feeling his arms hold Troy close, and seeing how peaceful Abed looked while he was sleeping made Troy feel all those things that old cheesy romance movies said you were supposed to feel when you were in love. 

Abed suddenly shifted and pulled Troy closer, burying his face in Troy’s hair and sighing contentedly. 

Maybe Troy was a little gay.

**Author's Note:**

> aAA so here's my first trobed fic!! i love these two so much i couldn't help myself, i hope this isn't too ooc!! they're surprisingly hard to write but i think i did an ok job lmao :,)


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